Bringing together professionals from all spokes of the real estate industry in one location always has been the focus of the National Settlement Services Summit (NS3).

For the 2018 installment, keynote speaker Alessandro DiNello, president and CEO of Flagstar Bank, brought to the podium the perspective of an industry leader who has worn a number of different hats throughout his career.

From a regulatory perspective to technology and all points in between, find out how DiNello and his company successfully navigated a gauntlet of obstacles and are now thriving.

Now that many of the industry-sought changes to the Dodd-Frank Act have been ratified, the financial industry must plan how it will go about implementing its various provisions from a policy and technology standpoint.

Ron Haynie of the Independent Community Bankers of America and Mark Mackey of IDS broke down some of the major adjustments financial entities and technology providers will have to make for the newly minted law while speaking with Dodd Frank Update.

Learn what provisions they believe will prove fairly straight-forward to implement and which ones may take a little more time.

After years advocating for rollbacks to various Dodd-Frank Act provisions, financial industry leaders are getting at least a portion of what they asked for courtesy of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155).

The House voted 258-159 to pass the measure, sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk for final approval. Thirty-three Democrats submitted “Yea” votes and Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) cast the only dissenting vote on the Republican side.

Find out what industry participants, congressional representatives (past and present) and consumer advocacy groups had to say about the heavily debated measure.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently decided to dismiss its case against PHH Corp. over alleged violations of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). The dismissal was announced nearly six years to the day after the bureau first took action against the company.

CFPB acting director Mick Mulvaney wrote in his dismissal that he accepts the court’s ruling on the applicability of RESPA to PHH.

A New York Southern District judge has rejected the January ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) single-director structure in a decision invalidating the bureau’s claims in a class action lawsuit alleging multiple violations of consumer protection laws.

Dodd Frank Update reached out to Goodwin Law Partners William Jay and Anthony Alexis to explain the series of events that would have to occur to attract a grant of certiorari from the Supreme Court, by which the higher court would review the lower courts’ decisions.

As part of an effort to reorganize federal agencies in a way to make them more efficient and accountable, President Donald Trump’s administration is proposing to end the conservatorship of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) and allow other privately owned entities to enter the secondary market to increase competition.

The proposal has elicited responses from trade associations representing mortgage bankers and credit unions, noting their hopes for what can be done to improve on the current guarantor structure.

Learn more details about how the plan would impact the housing finance system and what the industry is saying about it.

During a hearing examining four requests submitted by acting director Mick Mulvaney in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s 13th semi-annual report to Congress, the House Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee listened to multiple industry leaders’ thoughts on what changes they seek.

Among the ideas discussed were putting the agency under congressional appropriations; requiring legislative approval for major rules; making the director answer to the president before exercising executive authority; and establishing an independent inspector general at the bureau.

Find out what interested parties had to say during and before the hearing.

For only the second time since Mick Mulvaney took up acting director duties, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has used its enforcement authority to take action against a company, and tapped the Dodd-Frank Act provision outlawing unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices in doing so.

Although its $1 billion consent order issued to Wells Fargo for unfair auto and mortgage lending practices in April marked the first bureau enforcement action announced under Mulvaney, the one announced June 13 was the first one spearheaded on his watch.

Find out more details about what makes this enforcement action different from past ones.

The financial markets in North America are lagging behind other countries when it comes to prioritizing digitalization, according to a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit, commissioned by Temenos, a Switzerland-based banking software provider.

Banking executives surveyed from North America indicated that concerns about compliance costs and regulatory fines are keeping them from investing heavily in new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and Blockchain.

Learn more about how bank CEOs in other global regions are focusing their development efforts.

The largest first-quarter increase in commercial and multifamily mortgage debt outstanding since before the financial crisis took place in the opening months of 2018, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). An MBA analyst attributed the rise to an uptick in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).

The opening quarter of 2018 also marked the first time since 2007 that there have been three consecutive quarters of CMBS growth, according to MBA Vice President of Commercial Real Estate Research Jamie Woodwell.

Loan Vision, a robust loan level accounting solution for the mortgage industry, recently expanded its consulting and support teams. The company announced the expansion as it approaches a company high for mortgage banks using its product.

The results showed the participating firms to be well-capitalized despite negative effects of rising credit card balances and the loss of beneficial tax treatments under the Republican tax reform law enacted in December 2017.

The National Credit Union Administration has finalized one rule reforming field-of-membership (FOM) requirements, and approved another final rule on voluntary mergers containing changes from its original proposal.

The Credit Union National Association and the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions have been strong supporters of updating FOM standards as the banking industry has expressed consistent opposition.

Find out more about the rules and what the industry is saying about them.

A proposed rule that would ease capital requirements for global systemically-important banks (GSIBs) has run into staunch opposition from community bankers who argue that doing so would create greater risk of a financial crisis with far-reaching consequences.

The rule, proposed jointly by the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, would recalibrate the Fed board’s enhanced supplementary leverage ratio (eSLR) standards applicable to GSIBs and their insured depository institution subsidiaries.

Find out what the rule’s opponents are saying about rolling back standards introduced in 2013 to address the problem of too-big-to-fail financial institutions.

Noting that elder financial exploitation has been a top concern for credit unions for many years, Ohio’s credit unions joined in the state’s effort to recognize and oppose elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation on June 25.

As record-low supply totals persist, there seldom has been a better time for an influx in housing starts and that is what has occurred in recent months, as far as the real estate industry is concerned.

Housing starts hit an 11-year high in May, increasing 5 percent from April rate and 20.3 percent compared to May of last year, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Promontory MortgagePath, a mortgage technology and loan fulfillment service provider, recently announced that its Promontory Fulfillment Services (PFS) unit has developed a new online Cost Savings Calculator.

Legislation to require the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to provide useful guidance in a timely fashion has gained a significant amount of industry supports as it awaits action by the House Financial Services Committee.

If enacted, H.R. 5534, known as the “Give Useful Information to Define Effective” (GUIDE) Compliance Act, would amend the Consumer Financial Protection Act to place certain guidance requirements on the bureau when it proposes a rule.

Find out more details about the measure, which has garnered a wealth of industry backing.

President Donald Trump has nominated Rodney Hood of North Carolina to serve as a member of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) for the remainder of a six-year term expiring Aug. 2, 2023. If confirmed, it would be his second stint working for the NCUA.

One of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s stated reasons for dismissing all 25 members of its Consumer Advisory Board was because of feedback in response to its Request for Information (RFI) on its external engagement strategies.

Numerous trade associations representing banks and credit unions submitted a comment letter signed by dozens of state-level banking trade organizations offering a variety of recommendations in response to the RFI.

The House Financial Services Committee has advanced nine bills during the past month, four of which received unanimous approval, bringing the total number of bills it has reported during this session of Congress to 108.

The committee approved three bills in late May and another six earlier this month, covering a broad spectrum of issues applicable to various corners of the financial marketplace.

Find out what each measure proposes to do and how much support and/or opposition lies ahead.

The agencies comprising the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council have replaced their 21-year-old revised policy statement on “Interagency Coordination of Formal Corrective Action by the Federal Bank Regulatory Agencies” with a new one designed to ensure ongoing coordination between the banking regulators.

Concurrently, the agencies announced that the revised policy statement covering interagency coordination dated Feb. 20, 1997 has been rescinded.

Read on to learn what this means for enforcement proceedings and more.

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has selected a new president and CEO to fill David Stevens’ shoes when he retires in September. Robert Broeksmit will bring his 33 years of mortgage industry experience with him as he steps in to take on the task.

His selection is the culmination of an eight-month process that began shortly after Stevens announced his retirement plans at MBA’s 2017 Annual Convention in Denver.

A report on the economic well-being of U.S. households in 2017 released by the Federal Reserve shows improved financial conditions among individuals of all education levels over the past five years. However, the report also indicates that approximately 40 percent of Americans were ill-equipped to cover an unexpected expense of $400 or more.

About 5 percent of consumers indicated that they would consider taking out a payday loan to cover such an expense, whereas 43 percent said they would put the debt on a credit card and 26 percent said they’d borrow from friends or family.

Find out more about the report’s findings, and how one association representing payday lenders interpreted the data.

Mortgage industry participants are being invited to help with the development of a new decision model for validating eNotes.

The new MISMO group will be responsible for incorporating MISMO standards into the creation of a decision model which can be used to validate the underlying document structure and data of electronic notes.

Numerous conservative public policy organizations have gotten increasingly more involved in the debate over the federal tax exemption for credit unions, taking up positions similar to those banks have argued for years.

Ten such groups recently wrote to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and other committee members, urging them to revisit the matter. Hatch is among various legislators who have weighed in on the topic.

Find out more about what arguments are being levied on both sides of the issue.

The American Bankers Association (ABA) Foundation recently commemorated World Elder Abuse Awareness Day by announcing the release of a free guide to help banking professionals quell the efforts of those seeking to exploit seniors financially.

The ABA Foundation and OrgWide Services consulted with government agencies, law enforcement agencies, banks of varying sizes and banking trade associations in developing the new guide.

The Federal Reserve Board, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. have issued information on the host state loan-to-deposit ratios, which are used to determine compliance under Section 109 of the Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994. Review the ratios in Dodd Frank Update’s Library.